Robert Kai Iwabuchi is a Canadian retired ice hockey

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

who was an All-American for

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

Career

Iwabuchi was recruited to

by John Gasparini and became a member of his first recruiting class when Gasparini was named head coach in 1978. Iwabuchi had to beat out Bill Stankoven and Mel Donnelly, two veteran Sioux netminders for the starting role. The pressure and excitement of his position caused Iwabuchi to vomit before most games which endeared him to his teammates, some of whom had the same issue. Iwabuchi became a hit as a freshman, helping the team finish atop the

WCHA The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is a college athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a women's ice hockey-only conference. From 1951 to 1999, it operated a ...

standings, defeating

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

in their final game to do so. Iwabuchi finished second in the nation in both

goals against average Goals against average (GAA) also known as "average goals against" or "AGA" is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending ...

and save percentage and was named as an All-American. He led UND on a run through the conference tournament and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eleven years. The Fighting Sioux received the top western seed and downed Dartmouth in the semifinal. In the championship, Stankoven got the start but allowed three goals to the Golden Gophers in the first period. With the team down by 2, Iwabuchi was in goal to start the second and he performed well in relief, turning aside 17 shots. After the team had cut their deficit to 1,

Neal Broten Neal LaMoy Broten (born November 29, 1959) is an American former professional ice hockey player. A member of the 1980 US Olympic hockey team that won the gold medal at Lake Placid in 1980, Broten was inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame in ...

scored a one-in-a-million goal over a sliding Iwabuchi to put Minnesota back ahead by 2. UND scored mid-way through the third to get within one again but a post got in the way of a tying goal and UND saw the championship slip away. Iwabuchi was the starter to begin his sophomore season but his numbers weren't nearly as good. He was eventually replaced as the primary goalie by freshman Darren Jensen and provided capable backup goaltending for the team as it handily won the WCHA regular season crown, the WCHA tournament championship and the NCAA title. Iwabuchi left the program after the year and played with the Baltimore Clippers before retiring as a player. After returning to the

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

area, Iwabuchi began working in with the family business in the food service industry and continued after they had been acquired by

Sysco Sysco Corporation (short for Systems and Services Company) is an American multinational corporation involved in marketing and distributing food products, smallwares, kitchen equipment and tabletop items to restaurants, healthcare and education ...

. He worked in the marketing department until his retirement.

Statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iwabuchi, Bob 1957 births Living people AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans Canadian ice hockey goaltenders NCAA men's ice hockey national champions North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's ice hockey players Spruce Grove Mets players Baltimore Skipjacks players Ice hockey people from Edmonton